Poker News

Dr. Scott Aigner

Some people would never do what I did several weeks ago. A guy playing at our table had lost 3 buy ins of $500 at our 2- 5 no limit hold em game. I won a fair amount of that $1,500 including a hand that I trapped him on when I picked up a gut shot straight draw, bottom pair and a backdoor flush draw on the turn and hit the flush on the river.

I caught him in a perfect trap with good implied odds and check raised him all in on the river and he called for his last $290 after he had bet $100. As I was raking in the pot he was reaching into his pocket. All he had left was $100. The buy in was $200. A well dressed cowboy at the table then said “you really should give him back his last hundred dollar bill”. I am sure he was joking around more than actually meaning it.

I asked the guy where he was from and he said he was from here. Bingo! I flipped a hundred dollar bill to him immediately.

You should have seen everyone’s reaction at this table. Why would I give this guy a hundred dollars? One thing that really made this move worth it was seeing 5 jaws hit the table simultaneously.

This one upped Mike Caro’s psychological ploy of burning a one hundred dollar bill at the table. Psychological warfare at its best or just plain stupidity? One thing was for sure! I did not give him that hundred dollar bill because I felt sorry for him. I would check raise my own grandmother if she was in the game (and she would probably slap me if I didn’t).

The main reason I gave this guy the one hundred dollars was to show the rest of the table that I did not care about the money. I was there to play and I was confident in my ability to win. I had no fear in losing. It definitely had a psychological effect on everyone sitting in the game. Who the heck would try to bluff me after what I just did?

The guy who lost all of the money did not complain one time after he lost a big pot and was a gracious winner when he won. He had definite weaknesses in his game though that the better players took advantage of all night. He could not lay down a medium strength hand on the river such as a big pair or even two pair when the board was coordinated or a three flush was on the board and the action suggested that the opponent who raised him actually held the best hand. He did not read boards very well and had other weaknesses that the better players exploited including that he overvalued the possibility of someone bluffing him.

He would do much better to move down to the 1-3 no limit hold em game and improve on these weaknesses. The players at the 2-5 game were much better than he was capable of playing and he needs to gain some experience in no limit hold em before playing higher.

I really enjoyed playing in this game and I also did something that I had never even dreamed of ever doing before. I gave a player a hundred dollars and I felt good about doing it. I did something unique that gave me a big psychological advantage in this game as well. Oh by the way, don’t expect me to do this should you find me sitting in your game.

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